


Introduction to Macaroni Art

by zanthe



Series: Mechanics [4]
Category: Xenoblade Chronicles
Genre: Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-03
Updated: 2020-06-03
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:35:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24514726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zanthe/pseuds/zanthe
Summary: Shulk needed a little help making and delivering some macaroni art for contest examples.
Relationships: Egil & Shulk (Xenoblade Chronicles)
Series: Mechanics [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1767211
Comments: 5
Kudos: 16





	Introduction to Macaroni Art

**Author's Note:**

> Why do all my best thoughts happen while I'm washing the dishes?

“Hey, Egil?” Shulk peered up from his notes.

“Yes, Shulk?” Egil didn’t bother looking away from his own task, carefully detailing a blueprint. 

“How do you feel about arts and crafts?” Shulk asked, tapping his pencil on the table as Egil finished the line he was working on in contemplative silence. 

The Machina drew back, thinking for another moment, “I am a craftsman, you are aware?” Shulk nods. “I suppose I can say I enjoy them. Why do you ask?” The wide-eyed look on the Hom’s face after he asked was a pretty good giveaway that the reason was going to be something silly, probably. 

“You see, well,” Shulk fidgeted in his seat, twirling his pencil around and prompting an exasperated sigh from Egil, “so, Juju and Riki are holding this little arts and crafts contest for the kids in Colony 6 -” 

“I heard about that from Vanea, yes,” Egil interrupted, “Shulk, we are not children, what does this have to do with me?” 

“I’m getting to that!” Shulk retorted, setting his pencil down, “they’re holding a contest, and they wanted my help with making some examples for the kids, specifically for the macaroni art,” The  _ what? _ “They wanted it done by tomorrow afternoon, since the contest is the day after, but…” Shulk winced, and Egil drew in a breath and sighed.

“You forgot until just now?” He guessed, or, well, he knew. 

The Homs nodded at that, “I was hoping to make at least three, but I don’t think I’d be able to finish that many overnight, so uh. Can I ask for your help?” 

“I don’t know how to make macaroni art.” Egil deadpanned. 

Shulk blinked up at him, “You’ve never made macaroni art?” He stared at him in surprise.

“We don’t exactly have macaroni on Mechonis, Shulk. Machina do not eat, remember?” Egil wondered if frowning was just his default reaction at this point. 

“Oh. I guess that makes sense, sorry.” Shulk hummed, “Well, would you… like to learn?” 

Egil fell silent for a moment. They weren’t all that busy this week, and his blueprints were a few lines away from being done anyways. “Sure, I suppose macaroni art can’t be all that difficult. Just allow me to finish this first.” 

Shulk nodded excitedly, “Alright! I’ll go get the materials then, that should be enough time for you to finish, right?” 

“Yes.” Egil refocused himself on his work once more, listening to the sounds of Shulk’s footsteps as he scampered off. He chuckled quietly, amused by his sudden burst of energy, before wondering. How exactly does one make artwork with pasta? Well, he’d find out soon enough.

The answer was glue. Of course it was glue. When Shulk got back carrying a bag of supplies, Egil felt he should’ve seen this coming. Paper, uncooked pasta of many varieties, and glue. 

“So first you can sketch out what you want to make,” Shulk handed him a piece of paper, “and then you glue macaroni on the paper in the form of it. Or you can skip that and go straight to making something out of pasta. I’m gonna try to make a krabble,” there was an enthusiasm in his voice Egil wished he had a fragment of, staring down at the sheet of paper as he continued, “and I think maybe a bunniv? Or a deinos, maybe? How about you?” Shulk looked at him curiously, “any ideas yet?”

“One, I suppose.” It was all rather… daunting, truthfully. But there was no way in hell Egil would be caught getting stumped at such a simple task, so quietly the two got to work. 

Picking up pasta noodles proved to be a bit of a challenge, Egil’s nails would often snap the things in half, and trying to work around them was its own problem. Not to mention the glue, which, again, was a problem to handle with how tiny the bottle was. Shulk would give him a sorry look now and then, but he brushed it aside, invested now in this simply overcomplicated task. 

About an hour later, he’d gotten pretty far into his project. There was a macaroni noodle stuck somewhere in his sleeve, but removing it now would probably mean another would get stuck on him elsewhere, seeing as how the glue was not agreeing with his hands. Egil was a master at fine detail, when it came to machinery. Machinery wasn’t this fragile, or sticky. Mechon didn’t need glue. He wondered if pasta could be melted. 

Another hour later, he was almost done. Shulk would peer down at his artwork curiously now and then, but after Egil had pushed his nosy little face away with glue-covered hands a few times he’d stopped doing that. Shulk had, of course, finished both his pieces by now, holding the advantage of tiny hands that were good with fragile pasta. It was annoying, admittedly, as Egil was more than a touch competitive, but no matter. There was macaroni art to focus on, and by the love of Meyneth he was going to make it perfect. 

“I’m done.” He declared, rousing Shulk from an impromptu nap. He gestured down at the piece, and Shulk was completely speechless. A work of pure, beautiful spite, for sure. It was an incredibly detailed rendition of a view from Agniratha, taking full advantage of every piece of pasta, every color of it, and even the fact that it could be layered a little. 

“Egil, I was expecting pasta art, not a macaroni masterpiece.” Shulk murmured, turning to grin at him, “seriously, I think it’s safe to declare you the king of macaroni art.” 

Egil huffed at that, “Please, it’s only my first, and final, attempt. I do not ever want to do this again, frankly.” He held up his hands for Shulk to see, flexing his fingers to emphasize the fact there were at least fifty or so pieces of pasta stuck to him now. “Really though, now it’s my turn to ask a favor.” 

“Oh! Of course,” Shulk giggled, grabbing him by the wrist, “C’mon, let’s get you cleaned up. We can let those dry overnight and take them to Riki and Juju in the morning. I’m sure you’d like to see the looks on their faces when you hand that to them?” 

“Yes, it would make this annoyance a worthwhile effort.” Egil grumbled, moving to flick a piece of macaroni off his hand before realizing he didn’t want to step on it later. “Let’s hurry up, the sooner I get this off of me the better.” 


End file.
